General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

15 December 1989

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                       A/RES/44/114
                                                       81st plenary meeting
                                                       15 December 1989
 
     44/144.  Reduction of military budgets
 
                                      A
                        Reduction of military budgets
 
     The General Assembly,
 
     Desirous of reversing the arms race and military expenditures, which
constitute a heavy burden for the economies of all nations and have harmful
effects on world peace and security,
 
     Convinced that the reduction of military expenditures as a result of the
progress in disarmament negotiations will have favourable consequences on the
world economic and financial situation,
 
     Reaffirming that the resources released through the reduction of military
expenditures could be reallocated to the economic and social development of
all States, particularly for the benefit of the developing countries,
 
     Firmly convinced that the reduction of military expenditures will have a
positive impact on the process of strengthening confidence and improving
international security and co-operation among States,
 
     Desirous of bringing its contribution to the achievement of these goals,
 
     1.   Welcomes the work of the Disarmament Commission on the
identification and elaboration of a set of principles that should govern
further action of States in the field of the freezing and reduction of
military budgets;
 
     2.   Takes note of these principles, as annexed to the present
resolution, and decides to bring them to the attention of Member States and of
the Conference on Disarmament as useful guidelines for further action in the
field of the freezing and reduction of military budgets;
 
     3.   Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at
its forty-sixth session a progress report on the implementation of the present
resolution;
 
     4.   Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-sixth
session the item entitled "Reduction of military budgets".
 
                                    ANNEX
 
        Principles that should govern further actions of States in the
           field of the freezing and reduction of military budgets
 
1.   Concerted efforts should be made by all States, in particular by those
States with the largest military arsenals and by the appropriate negotiating
forums, with the objective of concluding international agreements to freeze
and reduce military budgets, including adequate verification measures
acceptable to all parties.  Such agreements should contribute to genuine
reductions of armed forces and armaments of States parties, with the aim of
strengthening international peace and security at lower levels of armed forces
and armaments.  Definite agreements on the freezing and reduction of military
expenditures are assuming special importance and should be reached within the
shortest period of time in order to contribute to the curbing of the arms
race, alleviate international tensions and increase the possibilities of
reallocation of resources now being used for military purposes to economic and
social development, particularly for the benefit of the developing countries.
 
2.   All efforts in the field of the freezing and reduction of military
expenditures should take into account the principles and purposes of the
Charter of the United Nations and the relevant paragraphs of the Final
Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly.
 
3.   Pending the conclusion of agreements to freeze and reduce military
expenditures, all States, in particular the most heavily armed States, should
exercise self-restraint in their military expenditures.
 
4.   The reduction of military expenditures on a mutually agreed basis should
be implemented gradually and in a balanced manner, either on a percentage or
on an absolute basis, so as to ensure that no individual State or group of
States may obtain advantages over others at any stage, and without prejudice
to the right of all States to undiminished security and sovereignty and to
undertake the necessary measures of self-defence.
 
5.   While the freezing and reduction of military budgets is the
responsibility of all States, to be implemented in stages in accordance with
the principle of greatest responsibility, the process should begin with those
nuclear-weapon States with the largest military arsenals and the biggest
military expenditures, to be followed immediately by other nuclear-weapon
States and militarily significant States.  This should not prevent other
States from initiating negotiations and reaching agreements on the balanced
reduction of their respective military budgets at any time during this
process. 
 
6.   Human and material resources released through the reduction of military
expenditures should be devoted to economic and social development,
particularly for the benefit of the developing countries.
 
7.   Meaningful negotiations on the freezing and reduction of military budgets
would require that all parties to such negotiations have accepted and
implemented transparency and comparability.  The elaboration of agreed methods
of measuring and comparing military expenditures between specified periods of
time and between countries with different budgeting systems would be
required.  To this end States should utilize the reporting system adopted by
the General Assembly in 1980.
 
8.   Armaments and military activities that would be the subject of physical
reductions within the limits provided for in any agreement to reduce military
expenditures will be identified by every State party to such agreements.
 
9.   The agreements to freeze and reduce military expenditures should contain
adequate and efficient measures of verification, satisfactory to all parties,
in order to ensure that their provisions are strictly applied and fulfilled by
all States parties.  The specific methods of verification or other compliance
procedure should be agreed upon in the process of negotiation depending upon
the purposes, scope and nature of the agreement.
 
10.  Unilateral measures undertaken by States concerning the freezing and
reduction of military expenditures, especially when they are followed by
similar measures adopted by other States on the basis of mutual example, could
contribute to favourable conditions for the negotiation and conclusion of
international agreements to freeze and reduce military expenditures.
 
11.  Confidence-building measures could help to create a political climate
conducive to the freezing and reduction of military expenditures.  Conversely,
the freezing and reduction of military expenditures could contribute to the
increase of confidence among States.
 
12.  The United Nations should play a central role in orienting, stimulating
and initiating negotiations on freezing and reducing military expenditures,
and all Member States should co-operate with the Organization and among
themselves, with a view to solving the problems implied by this process.
 
13.  The freezing and reduction of military expenditures may be achieved, as
appropriate, on a global, regional or subregional level, with the agreement of
all States concerned.
 
14.  The agreements on the freezing and reduction of military budgets should
be viewed in a broader perspective, including respect for and implementation
of the security system of the United Nations, and be interrelated with other
measures of disarmament, within the context of progress towards general and
complete disarmament under effective international control.  The reduction of
military budgets should therefore be complementary to agreements on the
limitation of armaments and disarmament and should not be considered as a
substitute for such agreements.
 
15.  The adoption of the above principles should be regarded as a means of
facilitating meaningful negotiations on concrete agreements on the freezing
and reduction of military budgets.
 
                                      B
                               Military budgets
 
     The General Assembly,
 
     Welcoming the encouraging progress achieved in arms limitations and
disarmament,
 
     Noting that further progress in disarmament negotiations could also lead
to reductions in military expenditures,
 
     Stressing that increased information on military matters is an important
prerequisite for achieving agreements on the reduction of armed forces,
 
     Recalling that an international system for the standardized reporting of
military expenditures has been introduced in pursuance of General Assembly
resolution 35/142 B of 12 December 1980, and that national reports on military
expenditures have been received from a number of Member States belonging to
different geographic regions and having different budgeting and accounting
systems, 
 
     Convinced that more transparency and comparability could be reached
through broader participation in the standardized system of the United Nations
for reporting military expenditures,
 
     1.   Considers that transparency requires also agreed methods of
measuring and comparing military expenditures between specified periods of
time and between countries with different budgeting systems;
 
     2.   Accordingly calls upon all States to make use of the reporting
system adopted by the General Assembly;
 
     3.   Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-sixth
session an item entitled "Transparency and reduction of military budgets".